Even today many small businesses still don’t have a website.
Most small business owners don’t see the need for a websites as their customers are local, and they already know them, and they don’t appreciate what a website can really do for their business.
It maybe true that some businesses can, and will thrive without a website, but there are many that won’t, and there are probably even many more that will thrive because of their Internet presence!
Being a Small Business is No Reason Why Not! It May Even be the Reason Why!
If you have a small business where do you get new customers from? For most businesses it will probably be local advertising and/or the local yellow pages.
If this is you then you will eventually need your own website – and here is Why?
- A website is cheaper than the Yellow Pages and you can change it when you want.
- It is cheaper than local advertising.
- You can use it to interact with your customers.
- You can supply much more information to your customers than through either other methods.
- You can use it to accept email orders.
- Reduced running costs – If your business needs to produce brochures or any kind of sales literature it is cheaper to have the customer download it to his machine and print it then you to produce a brochure which you then send to him/her.
- You can use it to attract customers from outside your local area.
Comparing this to the cost of running a website per year then it is by far the cheapest option available besides being the most flexible.
Small Business and The Search Engines
Traditionally people search for local businesses using the yellow pages or the classifieds in their regional paper. All major search engines are currently adding local search facilities and it is only a matter of time before they become extensively used for finding small businesses.
It is very difficult to say with any degree of accuracy when local search via the Internet will overtake the yellow pages and classifieds, but it is almost inevitable that it will.
For those who are convinced they need a website then Blaze Commerce will take you through the process of creating your own business site.
Many small businesses are missing out completely on email marketing, a standard feature of the Blaze Commerce web solutions, unaware that it is probably the most inexpensive and effective form of marketing available.
Although it is possible to use email marketing without a website it is far more effective when used in conjunction with one.